A Hollywood Marriage
by cupcakeaddict100
Summary: In the fairy tales, the bride and groom run away and live happily ever after. In real life, the bride and groom try to make do with ever after. Gabriella and Troy thought dating was hard, but soon realize marriage is harder. Especially in Hollywood.
1. Anniversary

Hey guys! Do you know what this is? Guess. Okay, its the sequel to A Hollywood Romance! Yay. So, I told myself that I would start this story in January 2013, and I actually stuck to it, which is a big accomplishment for me because I procrastinate and I suck at sticking to resolutions. So, here you are! Enjoy.

* * *

"So guys, it is official. I am officially the world's worst wife." Gabriella said, sitting down in the tiny bistro that Sharpay had chosen for lunch. "I deserve the award for being such a crappy wife."

"What did you do?" Taylor asked. "Did you...cheat?" Her voice dropped down to a whisper.

Gabriella gasped, "Of course not! I'm offended that you would even suggest something so awful."

"Did you kill Troy?" Sharpay asked.

"No."

"Did you kill his mother?"

"That would make her the world's worst daughter-in-law."

"If you didn't cheat, and you didn't kill Troy, or his mom, you aren't the world's worst wife."

"Yeah, what did you do?"

Gabriella twisted her ring around on her finger. "Do you guys know what tomorrow is?"

"Yes, it is going to be January 17th."

Gabriella nodded, "You guys know what happened on January 17th last year?"

"You got married." Julia said. "Oh, your one year anniversary is tomorrow!" She clapped. "Yay, you made it a year. That's really good, because it is such a rarity to make it a year in this town."

"I don't have a gift for Troy."

Taylor looked at Gabriella, surprised. "You don't have a gift for him? Why not?"

"Time just slipped by. I was in New York for the last week, and its not like I forgot our anniversary. I just didn't get him a gift."

"He's probably having the guy from Cake Boss make you the world's largest cupcake." Sharpay said.

"Or buying you a year's supply of vodka."

"You make it seem like I'm a alcoholic. I don't drink that much."

"But when you do, you get hammered."

Gabriella groaned, "We are not here to discuss my alcohol consumption. What am I going to give Troy tomorrow?"

Sharpay smiled, "When he comes home, meet him at the door wearing nothing but a pair of Jimmy Choos."

Taylor laughed, "Jimmy Choos?"

"Or YSL." Sharpay shrugged. "Whatever shoes make your legs look lean and long."

"I'm 5"11. Having long legs isn't a worry of mine."

"Okay, well longer."

"Sharpay, she should get him something better."

"I think it's a good idea."

"She can be naked the other 364 days of the year." Julia pointed out. "She needs to do something special."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here." Gabriella said. "I need ideas."

"Get him a pair of shoes."

"Get him golf clubs!"

Gabriella nodded, "That is a really good idea. I'll keep that in mind, Tay."

"Keep my idea in mind too." Sharpay ordered. "It's absolutely fool-proof."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I'll keep it in mind, too."

* * *

"You should go with the golf clubs." Lola said. "Troy loves golf."

Gabriella gripped her steering wheel. "I don't understand golf. Do you know how to pick out golf clubs? Where do you even get golf clubs? How much do golf clubs cost?"

"I don't know, try Sports Authority." Lola guessed. "Google it or something. I don't know golf. And I'm pretty sure they're expensive, but why do you care? You can randomly spent $800 on shoes on any given day."

Gabriella pressed her finger to her throbbing temple. She sighed. "Thanks for the help, sis. And if you are referring to my red leather boots, they were worth it."

"Hey, don't get sassy with me because you don't have a gift to give your husband yet."

Gabriella huffed, "Sorry. This is my first wedding anniversary, Lola, and I kind of want it to be perfect."

"I know, but you're stressing me out through the phone. Calm down."

"I'm going to try my best. When I get home, I am going straight to my bed."

"Where are you now?" Lola asked.

"I am a few minutes away from my house." Gabriella answered.

"Talking while driving? I'm disappointed."

"You're on speaker." Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I'm not an idiot."

"Well I'm just making sure. I'm your big sister."

"I'm 28. I can take care of myself."

"Well, I gotta go. I need to review for my case."

"Have fun. Love you."

"I love you, too."

Gabriella hung up and tossed her phone into her passenger seat of her SUV. Lola and Taylor were right. Troy loved golf. She was just going to get him golf clubs and let that be the end of it.

She turned into the driveway of her townhouse and took her key out of her ignition. There was a silver BMW next to Troy's car. Marcus was there. She unbuckled her seat belt and got out of her Range Rover.

"Oh look, Gabriella's home. Hi Gabriella!" Marcus greeted once Gabriella made her way inside.

Gabriella waved slightly and put her purse down on her living room table. "Hi Marcus. To what do I owe this great pleasure?"

Troy walked into the living room, and kissed Gabriella's forehead. "Hi."

Gabriella wrapped her arms around Troy's waist. She inhaled the scent of his Ralph Lauren cologne and smiled, "Hi. What are you boys up to?"

"We were setting something up for you." Troy answered. "A part of your anniversary gift, actually."

"Really?" Gabriella removed her arms from Troy's waist. "What is it?"

"It is upstairs in our bedroom. Go see what it is."

"Pushy, pushy." Gabriella teased. She headed towards the stairs and walked up. "My gift better be diamonds. Lots and lots of diamonds."

"Maybe you got her the wrong gift. Sounds like she wants diamonds."

"I got her diamond tennis necklace, too."

"Do you think she saw it?" Marcus asked. They heard a loud gasp, followed by an excited scream. "She saw it."

Gabriella came running down the stairs, a small Maltese puppy in her hands. "Is this mine?"

"No, I really wanted a small, white dog all for myself."

"Your sarcasm is not very becoming, but I'll let it slide because you got me a puppy." Gabriella smiled. "Marcus, I have a puppy! Isn't it adorable?"

Marcus nodded, "It's so adorable. I'm going to before I die from cuteness overload."

Troy waved, "Bye."

"Bye, lovebirds."

Marcus left the house, leaving the couple alone.

"Oh, I love this dog. I love this dog so freaking much."

"It's a boy." Troy said. "And I couldn't wait until tomorrow to give you your gift. You would've found him."

Gabriella hugged the small puppy closer to her body. "We'll have to get you a good name, won't we. Oh my, Lola is going to try to take you away once she sets her sights on you, you're so adorable. You're so adorable!"

Troy frowned, "I'm adorable, too."

"You are." Gabriella put the dog down. "You are absolutely amazing." She pulled Troy into a kiss. "Now my gift is going to pale in comparison."

"I'm sure I'm going to love it."

"I hope."

"Do I get my gift a day early?" Troy asked.

"Nope. You have to wait until tomorrow. I don't want to spoil the surprise."

Troy frowned, "Do I at least get a tiny hint?"

"No."

"I get you a puppy a day _before_ our anniversary and I don't even get a hint as to what my gift is. That's not fair, now is it?"

"I didn't ask for my gift today."

"You're killing me here."

"I love you, though."

Troy smiled, "I love you too, Brie."

* * *

"You're going to do what?" Julia asked, stepping into Gabriella's kitchen. "I don't think I heard you correctly."

Gabriella held up her right hand. "I, Gabriella Marie Bolton, am going to bake."

"Bake what? Pre-baked cookies?"

"A cake! For my anniversary."

"What happened to the golf clubs?"

"They are with Troy at the country club right now."

"You were able to to get him out of the house? On my one year anniversary, Elliot practically kept me locked in our bedroom."

"Gross, stop talking."

"Sorry."

"I told Troy not come home until five, so I can bake his cake."

"I seriously do not believe what I'm hearing. You aren't going to bake."

"Yes, I am. Now Troy loves chocolate cake and his mother gave me a recipe for her double cake with chocolate butter cream frosting."

"His mother's recipe? Gabs, you are going to butcher your mother-in-law's recipe! And not just any mother-in-law. No, we are talking about a homemaking, southern belle, who cooks and bakes all day for fun!"

"I can follow simple directions, Jules." Gabriella pulled a can of cocoa powder out of her pantry. "Would you like to help me?"

"Well, Elliot's parents do have EJ for a few days, so I can hang out with you."

"You really know how to make a girl feel special."

Julia walked out of Gabriella's kitchen and over to the bar. "We are going to need alcohol to survive this task. Now red or white wine?"

"I'll take either."

"I'll grab both." Julia picked up two bottles, opened a cabinet and grabbed two big wine glasses. "I'm willing to bet we'll run through them quickly. This is going to be an interesting project."

A few hours later, Gabriella and Julia were done. And the end results were...not good.

Gabriella accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder. She forgot to buy butter, so she had to use margarine-she has no idea how that got into her house. Like she'd ever buy substitute butter-and the frosting was just, not amazing. Oh, and when she tried to take the cake out of the pan, it split down the middle.

Julia tilted her head to the side, trying to look at the cake from a different angle. "Well, it isn't so bad."

"You're lying to me."

"No I'm not. From this angle, the cake is...decent looking. I like the way the top layer is sliding down and the icing isn't covering all of the cake."

"You can say it's horrible."

"Okay, it's absolutely horrible."

They heard the tiny pitter patter of feet coming down the hallway, and Gabriella's puppy appeared in the kitchen.

Julia scooped the small dog up into her arms. "Hi! And who is this cutie pie?"

"My anniversary gift. His name is Christian."

"Christian? Like Christian Dior?"

"Louboutin." Gabriella corrected. "I'm shocked you even have to ask." She frowned. "Troy gives me an amazing gift and I can't make a freaking cake."

"Hey, we all know Troy didn't marry you for your cooking skills. It's okay." Julia gave Gabriella a pat on the back.

"I just wanted to do something special for him. We only get one first anniversary."

"Well you can try again in 9 years when you have your 10th anniversary. Or your 20th."

"I'll just go to the local bakery and buy a cake."

"That's the best idea you've had today."

"I feel like that was an insult."

"It kind of was, Gabs."

"Just call the bakery."

Julia held up her cell phone, "Already on it."

* * *

"I have no idea why you wanted to stay out." Troy said, sliding his house key into the keyhole. "Or why I wasn't allowed to come home earlier. You made me change clothes at the club." He pushed their front door open.

Gabriella stepped inside the house, "Well I was doing something very important."

"Ooh, important. What was it?"

"Nothing."

Troy rolled his eyes, "It had to be something because you said it was important."

Gabriella groaned, "I hate it when you use my words against me."

"I hate it too, but you do it to me anyway."

Gabriella sat down on the couch, and let out a deep sigh. "And I'm not gonna stop."

Troy walked over to Gabriella, "I have another gift for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Where is it?"

Troy reached behind Gabriella and onto the table that was behind the couch. He grabbed a jewelry box and handed it to Gabriella. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Gabriella excitedly lifted the lid of the box and her eyes landed on a diamond necklace. "Oh my."

"You like it?"

"Like it? Troy, I love it. It's gorgeous." Gabriella put the box down and pulled Troy into a kiss. She pulled away and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Gabriella shoved Troy, "You know what? You suck!"

"Excuse me?"

"Two great gifts in two days." Gabriella said. She punched his shoulder. "I hate you."

"I thought you loved me."

"I do, but I hate you and your amazing gift giving skills."

"Wait, you hate me because you love your gifts?"

"Yes."

Troy shook his head, "I'm so lost right now."

Gabriella pulled off her shoes and put her feet up. "You like your golf clubs?"

"I love my golf clubs."

"Good, because I kind of screwed up your second surprise."

Troy smiled teasingly, "What'd you do?"

"I tried to make you a cake, because you love cake. And I messed it up, and it came out extremely crappy."

Troy's eyes widened, "You baked?"

"Yes Troy, we already established that!" Gabriella huffed. "The point is that I fucked it up. Sorry. You get me a puppy and a diamond necklace, and I make you a dumb cake."

"It's alright."

"No it isn't alright. This is our first anniversary as a married couple and I wanted to do something special for you."

"Don't work yourself up over this." Troy gently rubbed Gabriella's head. "It's okay."

"Don't pet me like I'm a dog!" Gabriella snapped. Troy immediately took his hand off of Gabriella.

"Brie, we established a few years ago that you can't cook."

"You're making me feel better." Gabriella told him, sarcastically.

"I don't really care about your cooking or your baking. I love you despite that."

"Really?"

Troy nodded, "Yeah, Montez. If I wanted a perfect housewife, I would have married one of the girls from my high school."

"Just stop talking."

"Okay." Troy opened his arms. "You need a hug. Bring it in." Gabriella smiled and put her head on Troy's shoulder.

"You're a dork."

"Dorks are cool."

"No they aren't. However, husbands with wives who can't cook are cool."

"Did you throw the cake out?" Troy questioned.

Gabriella shook her head, "Nope. I put it on a platter hoping that it would make the cake look better, but it didn't help. It's still on there."

Troy lifted himself up, "I wanna see it."

"No you don't."

Troy turned to Gabriella and smirked, "Yes I do." He hopped off the couch and started to the kitchen.

"Troy!" Troy quickened his pace. Gabriella got up and started running. "Troy, no!"

"I just wanna what it looks like."

"It's ugly!"

Troy made it to the kitchen and sitting in the middle of the island, was a cake.

"Oh wow."

"I told you." Gabriella bent over, put her hands on her knees, and took a deep breath. "Damn, I am so out of shape. I need to go to the gym."

"Wow, this cake is...wow."

"Don't make fun of it."

"Maybe it tastes good. Have you tasted it?"

"Of course not. The cake is supposed to be for you."

Troy walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a plate. He then walked over the the drawer to get forks and knives. "Let's eat some."

"No, let's just throw it away and forget I even attempted to make it."

Troy scoffed, "Nonsense." He cut a slice of cake and slid it onto the plate. He handed Gabriella a fork and sat down on a bar stool. "We'll each take a bite."

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"It's my anniversary gift and I'm going to eat some." He put some cake on his fork. Gabriella reluctantly did the same. "Now on the count of three."

"Troy..."

"One. Two. Three."

The couple each took a bite of the cake. They looked at each other, both trying to keep straight faces, but Gabriella broke. She grabbed a paper towel and spit the cake out.

"I'm sorry, but that was just torture."

"Do we have ice cream? Maybe if I smother the cake in ice cream, it won't taste so bad. Or we can get some milk, or coffee, or alcohol."

Gabriella walked to the refrigerator and open the door. She pulled out a carton of milk. "Just say the damn cake is bad."

"It's absolutely disgusting. And its dry. That's a bad combination, Montez."

"Yeah."

"What's in this frosting?" Troy questioned, grabbing the carton out of Gabriella's hand. He took a swig.

"That's gross."

Troy shrugged, "We're the only two people that live here."

"We have glasses that you can drink out of."

"Are you really gonna get on my case after you tried to kill me?" Troy joked.

"I didn't try to kill you." Gabriella argued.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

"Let's make a pact, right here, right now."

"What kind of pact?"

"I'll never cook anything again. Unless it's a microwavable lasagna. Or someone gives me lessons." Gabriella held out her hand. "Shake on it?"

Troy shook Gabriella's hand, "Deal."

"Well it is," Gabriella looked at her watch, "8:15 at night."

"We have 3 hours and 45 minutes left in our anniversary."

Gabriella plopped herself down on Troy's lap. "Red heels or black heels?"

"Why?"

"Just answer the question."

The corners of Troy's lips turned upward into a smile. "Montez..."

"Yes?"

"Are you going to walk around in nothing but heels?"

"Maybe."

"Yes! I've wanted you to do that since we first started dating."

Gabriella laughed, "Yeah, I know."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Troy stoop up and lifted Gabriella up bridal style. "Let's go."

"Troy! Put me down!"

"Nope." He walked towards the staircase.

"You're strong."

"I know."

"And you don't need to walk up two steps at a time. If we fall, and I bruise, I'll kill you. And try not to hit my head on the rail."

"I need to get you upstairs and nudey up. Or is it nudey down?"

"Technically nudey down. And what's the rush?"

"Well I'd like to sleep with you before we die of food poisoning."

"Shut up!"


	2. Sick In Texas

"We haven't been out here since we got married over a year ago." Gabriella remarked, looking around Troy's old bedroom.

"Did you miss it out here?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah. I told you that we're moving out here in our golden years."

Troy shook his head in disagreement, "No we are not."

"Yes. As soon as we turn 60, we are leaving Los Angeles. I'd rather be out here than Florida where other old couples go."

Troy rolled his eyes, "Not if I have a say."

"You don't. I love it out here."

"Me too. It's good to be home."

Gabriella sat down on the bed, "It's not officially home until your aunt Chelsea says something like, "We need to shove 5 pounds of meat into your mouth.", or "You're so skinny but that's only because you don't know how to cook. Don't worry hon, we'll put some meat on your bones." She imitated in perfect southern drawl.

"Don't forget Kyle and Aaron have to fight for your affection. Aaron has to follow you around like a loyal puppy, and Kyle has to at least attempt to feel you up."

"You already know I'd leave you for Aaron." Gabriella teased. "As soon as he turns 18, we might run away together. Actually, we'd stay out here."

"You're such a cougar."

"I'll only be 40."

"You obviously don't hear yourself speaking." Troy concluded, sitting down beside Gabriella. "Besides, I'm not letting you leave me. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life."

"That sounds absolutely amazing."

"Are you being sarcastic?" Troy asked.

"You'll never know."

Troy's head hit the pillows and let out a sigh. It was peaceful and quiet, which was extremely rare, especially when all of his siblings all came home. They were too loud and in-your-face to ever be peaceful. "Brie?"

"Mhmm?"

"Guess what?"

"I'm too tired to guess. Just tell me."

"I think we're the only people here." Troy answered, turning his head to face Gabriella.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's absolutely silent, and I didn't see any cars in the driveway." Troy explained.

"Now that I about it, I didn't either." Gabriella smiled, "Great. That was a hellish flight we just endured and I am absolutely exhausted. I'd like a nap before your family attacks me."

"They're your family too, you know."

Gabriella laid her head beside Troy's "Only the sane ones."

"Touché Montez. Touché."

It became silent between the two. They were both starting to drift off to sleep when they heard voices. At first they were faint, but they got louder and louder, as if the people were getting closer.

Gabriella's eyes snapped open, "Well that was fun while it lasted."

"Maybe if we pretend that we are sleep, they will leave us alone."

"Good idea." Gabriella closed her eyes again.

"I think they're in here." A voice said from the other side of the door. It sounded like Troy's mother, but Gabriella wasn't sure.

The door opened, "Troy? Gabriella?" Yup that was the voice of Lucille. "Oh, they're sleep."

"Sleep?" Another voice said. That was Yasmine. "This early?"

"They just got in from Los Angeles. They must be tired."

"Well how long are they going to sleep?" Yasmine asked.

"I don't know, Yasmine. Maybe we should wake them up and ask them."

"Mother, can you not be sarcastic?"

Troy groaned and opened his eyes. He sat us to face his mom and sister. "We're up, guys." He nudged Gabriella lightly who got up.

Lucille frowned, "Oh no, did we wake you two?"

Troy was about to open his mouth to say something when Gabriella subtly pinched him. She shook her head, "No, Lucy it's fine."

"Well, good." She walked over to the bed and hugged the two of them. "I think Kathy, Jennifer and Aaron are on their way over."

Gabriella smiled, "Great. I have missed Aaron."

"He's missed you, too."

Troy groaned, "I'll have to share you."

"Yes you will."

"You two can just relax for now." Lucille ordered. "Come on, Yas let's go downstairs."

Once the two left, Troy turned to Gabriella. "I'm no longer tired."

"Me either. We might as well go downstairs and join everyone."

"No."

"Alright."

* * *

"I can't believe mom and dad are having their 30th anniversary." Marcus said, flipping through a big photo album. "Can you imagine staying with someone for over half of your life?"

Yasmine rolled her eyes, "That's what married people do, stupid. They stay married."

"Don't call me stupid! You're stupid."

"What a fantastic insult."

Troy grabbed the photo album from his brother's hands. He spotted a picture of his parents on their wedding day. His mother was holding Marcus. "What's even more shocking is that dad knocked mom up before they got married."

"Knocked up?" Gabriella scrunched up her nose. "You make them sound so trashy."

"Sorry. I'll find a better choice of words next time."

"Thank you."

Lucille walked into the living room and spotted everyone sitting on the couch, around a book. "What are you guys looking at?"

"Pictures from your wedding." Marcus answered.

"Oh, I haven't looked at these in forever." Lucille sat down next to Troy and scanned the photos. "We were so young. I miss being that young."

"You aren't that old, mom."

Lucille scoffed, "You won't be saying that when you're my age."

They all heard the door open and saw a little boy fly in the house, and straight to the living room. He was followed by two adults.

"Aaron, don't run in auntie Lucy's house!"

"Ella!" Aaron said, completely ignoring his mother's words and running straight into the brunette. "Hi Ella."

Gabriella smiled and picked Aaron up. She kissed his cheek, "Hi handsome. Did you miss me?"

"Yes. Do you miss me too?"

"Oh course I did. You're my favorite 6 year old."

"Yay."

Someone cleared their throat. Gabriella looked up and saw Jennifer standing there. "Do I get a hug?"

Gabriella sat Aaron down next to her and stood up, "Of course you get a hug." She wrapped her arms around the blonde in front of her.

"Thanks for coming to visit us. We have not seen you in over a year."

"Jen, it's not like I could miss my parents' anniversary party." Troy pointed out, standing up to hug his cousin.

"Well I'm just saying it's nice to see you two out here." Jennifer sat down in a chair opposite the couch. "Speaking of, you guys had your first anniversary over a month ago. How was it?"

Troy chuckled, "It was interesting."

"Gabriella, how did the cake turn out?" Lucille asked.

"Oh you don't want to know." Gabriella said, dismissing the question.

"It came out horrible." Troy replied.

"What went wrong?"

"Too many things to count, mom."

"Troy, she wasn't talking to you. She was talking to me."

Troy shrugged, "I'm just saying."

"Let's change the subject." Gabriella ordered.

"Aw, Brie it's okay." Troy cooed, wrapping his hand around Gabriella and giving her shoulder a squeeze. "We know you and cooking don't get along."

"Don't tease me."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But that was extremely funny."

"No, it was-" Gabriella stopped herself and took a deep breath. Out of the blue, it felt like someone was hitting the side of her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, and waited for the pain to pass.

Troy touched Gabriella's arm, "You okay, Brie?"

"No. My head is killing me all of the sudden."

"Did you bump it on something?" Lucille asked, standing up and walking over to Gabriella.

"No."

Lucille sighed, "You should go rest, sweetheart. We'll find you some Tylenol."

Troy got up, "I'll go find some."

Lucille shook her head, "No, I'll get it. You just get Gabriella upstairs so she can rest."

"Okay." Troy held out his hands and slowly lifted Gabriella up. "Come on, Montez, we're going upstairs."

"I can walk up the stairs. I don't need you to walk me up."

Troy gently pushed Gabriella up the stairs, "I'll still do it."

"I'm only letting you do this because I don't have enough energy to argue you down."

"I'm wearing you down, Montez."

"No you aren't."

"Yes I am."

"Are not." Gabriella muttered, as Troy opened the bedroom door.

"I'm going easy on you, compared to my mom."

"What do you mean?"

"I think she used to enjoy when we would get sick because she loved playing nurse and taking care of us. Making us soup, putting our blankets and socks in the dryer every few hours, bringing us tea. My mother thrives on helping people. She should have became a nurse."

Gabriella got onto the bed, "Why didn't she?"

"She had Marcus, married my dad, and became the perfect southern housewife. She loves being a mom more than anything. I'm positively sure that she would lose her mind if Yasmine left Texas. She needs to take care of someone."

"She'd always have your cousins. Aaron loves being here."

Troy walked over to the window and closed the curtains, "That's true. I'll go find my mom with the Tylenol. You just stay right here."

"I won't move a muscle."

"Good."

* * *

"Is Gabriella sleep?" Lucille asked, pouring tea into a big purple mug.

"I think so." Troy answered.

"You think so?"

"Yes. Last time I went up there, she was sleep. I can only assume she's still sleep."

"Well is she okay?"

"Yeah she hasn't said anything else."

Lucille groaned, "What if she's unconscious? You have to check on people when their heads hurt."

"She isn't unconscious. Gabriella snores in her sleep. I'm sorry I don't check her pulse every hour."

"You're getting snippy with me." Lucille warned, eyeing her son.

"Sorry."

"Good. Now do you know what brought this headache on?"

"No. Gabriella has been fine all day. She's just been a little tired but that's normal. She's been working a lot."

"Well go bring her this tea." Lucille ordered, holding on the tea mug for Troy to grab.

"Did you put a candy cane in this?" Troy questioned, getting a whiff of what was in the mug.

"It's peppermint tea. It's supposed to help headaches." Lucille explained.

Troy nodded, understandingly, even though he actually didn't understand a thing. He had no idea where his mom got all of these home remedies from.

He walked back up the stairs, careful not to spill any of the tea. The last thing he needed was his mother yelling at him.

"Brie?" Troy called out, walking into the bedroom. He saw a bundled up lump in the middle of the bed. "Brie, you up?"

"Yes." Gabriella muttered.

Troy pulled the cover off of Gabriella's head, "How are you feeling?"

"My head still hurts."

"My mom made tea." Troy showed Gabriella the mug. "It's peppermint."

"I'm fine right now."

"Scoot over."

"What?"

"Scoot over. I wanna lay with you." Gabriella did as she was told and Troy got into the bed. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Gabriella groaned and put her head in Troy's lap, "Make my headache go away."

"What does it feel like?"

"Like someone is squeezing the crap out of my brain."

"Scale of 1 to 10."

"I'd give this a solid 7."

Troy put his fingers on Gabriella's head and gently massaged it. "Am I hurting you?"

"No."

"Just try to relax."

"Troy, you don't need to baby me. Go back downstairs. Go spend time with your family."

"Last time I checked, you and I are family. You're my wife and right now you're sick, so that means you get top billing. Besides I'll be seeing the rest of that wild bunch for an entire week."

"You have such a way with words."

Troy turned his head to the side, as if he was trying to hide his face, "Stop it, I'm blushing."

Gabriella's phone buzzed, vibrating loudly against the nightstand. "Troy can you hand me my phone?"

Troy grabbed the phone and looked at the screen, "It's Julia. Want me to answer?"

"Go ahead."

"Hi Julia." Troy greeted, answering the phone. "In case you forgot, Gabriella is on vacation."

"Troy? You're answering Gabriella's phone?"

"Yeah."

"Elliot is lucky if he even gets to look at my phone. He won't ever get to answer my phone."

"That's great and all, but Gabriella has a headache right now, so maybe you can-"

"Can I just tell her one thing? One teensy little thing, and I'll be done and you two will be left alone. Please?"

Troy sighed and turned to Gabriella, "She wants to talk to you. I can say no if you want me to."

"I heard that!" Julia said.

Gabriella sat up, "I got it." She grabbed her phone.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Can you go get me some more water?"

"Of course."

Gabriella watched as Troy left the room. She put the phone to her ear, "Hi Jules."

"Hey Gabriella. Julia we gotta make this quick, I'm not feeling too well."

"I booked you a photo shoot for DKNY on Tuesday for 10:30 in the morning. You'll be back by Tuesday right?

"I think so. I'm pretty sure I put it on my calendar. Let me check really quick." Gabriella removed the phone from her ear and went to her menu so she could find her the calendar. She clicked on it and checked the date. She had to do a double take. "What the hell? This doesn't make sense."

"Did you say something?"

Gabriella, not really paying attention to what Julia was saying, put the phone to her ear, "What?"

"So are we good? Will you be here on Tuesday?"

"Yeah, we fly into Los Angeles Monday night."

"Great! Enjoy Texas for me."

"I'll try."

"You'll succeed. Bye."

"Bye."

Gabriella hung up and stared at her phone some more. Her eyes must have been deceiving her.

She ran her hands over her face, "You need some sleep Montez."

* * *

"Gabriella, do you know what time it is?" Jennifer grumbled, getting into Gabriella and Troy's rental car. Gabriella had texted her a few minutes ago saying she was outside of her house.

"No, I don't."

"Well it's 2:38 in the morning. Now, I don't know about you but most of us are sleep at this time."

Gabriella pulled out of Jennifer's driveway and continued driving, "Jen, I'm sorry."

"Am I being kidnapped?" Jennifer asked, still extremely confused about the situation that she was in.

"No. And it's not kidnap if you come willingly, which you did."

"Dang it."

"We're just going to a store."

"A store?"

"Yeah."

"What kind of store? Like a grocery store?"

"No like tiny little corner store."

Jennifer thought that Gabriella probably needed more medicine for her headache, "Oh."

"Any more questions?"

"No."

"Okay."

About a minute late, Gabriella pulled into the parking lot of a 24/7 store. She pulled her key out of the ignition, and turned to Jennifer, "I need you to get something for me."

"Sure. What kind of medicine do you want for your head? Advil? Tylenol?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Pills. We came here to get pills right?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No."

"No? Then what are we here for? I could be in my bed right now."

"I need you to buy me a pregnancy test."

Jennifer's jaw dropped, "You're pregnant?"

"I don't know, that's why we're here."

"Oh my goodness! You're pregnant!"

"Don't start celebrating just yet."

"I'm sorry, I'm just excited." She looked at Gabriella and frowned, "Aren't you?"

"I'm more nervous than anything now."

"Well you want kids, right?"

"Not necessarily. I mean, it wasn't a lifetime goal of mine to have children. Troy and I never talked about it."

"What? You guys never talked about having kids?"

"No, because we never made a plan to have them!" Gabriella took a deep breath, and counted to 3 in her head.

Jennifer unbuckled her seat belt and put her hand on the door handle, "Well, I'll go get the test for you."

"Thank you."

When Jennifer got out of the car, Gabriella put her head on her steering wheel. She was pretty sure the entire city could hear her heart pounding against her chest. Her hands were clammy and shaky, and her head was filled with one million thoughts. She and Troy might be having a baby.

"Holy shit!" Gabriella muttered. "We might be having a baby."

* * *

So don't kill me, but I'll leave it right there. I promise that you'll get answers in the next chapter. :)


	3. Never The Right Time

_Sometimes it is better to begin the journey, to get under way, then it is to sit back and wait until such time that you're convinced that all conditions are perfect and that there'll be no surprises along the route._

_-John Engler_

* * *

"Are you sure you guys have to leave tomorrow?" Lucille asked, putting a tray of muffins into the oven. "You can't stay one more day?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No, we have to leave. My manager has me all booked up. I'm sorry."

Lucille frowned, "I just love having you all out here."

"You can come to Los Angeles." Gabriella suggested. "You haven't been out there since Troy and I first got married. The townhouse looks much better now that it is fully furnished. And it's pretty big, so you'd have a lot of room. We could also go shopping on Rodeo Drive."

Lucille grabbed a basket and set it on the counter, "That sounds like a plan. Jack and I will be taking a trip to L.A. very soon."

"Lucy, why are you making so many muffins?"

"One batch is for my neighbor. She had back surgery a few days ago, and she got home yesterday. She loves my cranberry muffins. And the batch I just put in the oven is for the house. My mother always says that it's important to have some sort of baked good in your house. Muffins, cupcakes, cake, pie, turnovers, cobbler. brownies. The works."

"Oh."

"You can never have enough sweets."

Gabriella nodded, "You can say that again."

"Before I forget to ask, how is your head? Are you feeling any better?" Lucille questioned, putting the muffins into the basket.

"Yeah, I feel much better."

"Do you know what caused it?"

"I think I just had a migraine." Gabriella replied.

Lucille groaned, "Those are the worst. I had migraines with all three of my pregnancies."

Gabriella's head snapped up, "Really?"

"Oh yeah. It's believable that Marcus gave me the toughest time. You've met him."

"I can only imagine the time you had."

"I believe I had about four. It was absolutely dreadful. But it was better with Troy and Yasmine."

Gabriella rubbed her head, "I'm just glad that it's over."

"Me too." Lucille finished fixing the basket and smiled. "Well, I'll be right back. I just have to go drop these off."

"See you when you get back."

* * *

Troy walked up to Jennifer and Ryan's front door, Marcus in tow. "Do you know why Ryan called us here?"

"No idea." Marcus answered, ringing the door bell a few times. He just said that he wanted to see us. He sounded panicked."

"What do you think he did?"

"No idea."

The door opened and revealed a jumpy Ryan, "Hi guys. Come on in."

"Hi Ryan." Troy greeted. He closed the door behind him as he walked in.

"Were we supposed to be hanging out today?" Marcus asked. "Because if we were, I don't remember."

"No, but I need to talk to you guys."

"What?"

"Follow me." Ryan ordered, walking up the stairs. "You should see something."

Marcus followed Ryan up the stairs, "Is there a dead body upstairs?"

"No."

"Okay good."

"But I feel like I'm dying."

"Not good."

"Is Aaron okay?"

"Aaron is great. He's with Jennifer right now."

They walked into Jennifer and Ryan's room and into their bathroom.

Marcus sat on the edge of the bathtub, "Are you going to try to murder us? Because I'll kick your ass. And I'd hate to do that because I like you."

Ryan ignored Marcus and walked over to the trash bin. He pulled a pregnancy test out. "I found this."

Marcus grabbed the stick out of this hand. It had a yellow smiley face and a 'yes' on it. "Is this a pregnancy test?"

"Yes."

"Whose is it?"

"I'm going to assume it's my wife's because she's the only female that lives here!"

Marcus flung the stick out of his, "Gross, I just touched Jennifer's pee stick." He walked over to the sink and turned on the hot water.

"That's not the point!" Ryan exclaimed. "Jennifer is pregnant!"

Troy shrugged, "Congratulations? Isn't this good news?"

"Yeah, you guys aren't two broke 16 year olds, living with your parents. Married people are supposed to be happy about babies. Aaron is going to have a little brother or sister."

"I adore Aaron. He is my life, but a six year old boy is about as much as I am able to handle right now. You don't know what it's like raising a boy. They are a handful."

Troy gave Ryan a pat on the back, "Why don't you take a deep breath." He suggested.

"No."

"Yes. Now breathe." Troy took a deep breath. "If I can do it, you can." Ryan did as he was told.

"Are you always this calm?"

"Well considering Gabriella freaks out a lot, I have to stay calm."

"We're having another baby." Ryan sat down on the toilet and put his head in his hands. "Oh God."

"It's going to be okay. Aaron is a good kid. You guys are good parents."

Marcus grabbed a paper towel to dry his hands, "Well on the bright side, you guys aren't doing it ass backwards and just shacking up this time. Now our uncle won't want to kill you for getting Jen pregnant again."

Ryan looked up, "Marcus, can you just stop talking?"

* * *

"Mom, can you just make me a months worth of food to take back to L.A.?" Marcus asked, filling up his plate. "I am going to miss this."

"Well you could always stay a little longer."

"I have to get back to work."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"I'm staying longer than Troy and Gabriella." Marcus pointed out.

"That is true."

"We would stay longer, but I have to work, too." Gabriella explained. "My manager has me all booked up."

"Gabriella, what time does your flight leave tomorrow?" Jennifer asked.

"It leaves at 5 in the afternoon."

"Oh, okay. I'll be able to see you guys off." Jennifer grabbed the wine bottle that was sitting in the middle of the table and filled her glass. Ryan grabbed her glass before she could reach for it, and downed her drink. "Ryan!"

"Sorry. I just needed to wash this pasta down."

Yasmine stood up from the dinner table, "I'll go grab another bottle."

"Bottles are for babies, Yassy." Aaron said, laughing at his older cousin.

"Babies." Ryan repeated, a sad look washing over his face. "Oh good Lord."

Yasmine ignored Ryan and stayed focused on Aaron, "The bottle I'm getting is for grown ups, Aaron."

"Can I have a growned up bottle?"

"Ask me again in 15 years, kiddo." And with that, Yasmine walked out of the dinning room.

"Ella, do you gotta leave?" Aaron asked, focusing his attention onto Gabriella.

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah. Sorry handsome."

"Why?"

"I gotta go to work. Just like you have to go to school."

"Can you skip it? I don't go to school when I get sick and my mommy said you have an owie on your head, so you don't have to go."

Gabriella chuckled at the bright little boy in front of her, "I'm sorry, but I do. Maybe during summer time, you can come visit me and Troy. We can go to Disneyland."

"I love Disneyland!" Aaron exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "I love Mickey Mouse!"

"Then we can take you."

"Are you sure you're gonna be up for it?" Jennifer questioned. "You're going to be so pre-" Gabriella gave Jennifer a glare. "Pre-occupied. I'm sure you'll be really busy."

"I'll always have time for my favorite little Bolton. Right Aaron?"

"Right Ella!"

"Okay, I got a new bottle of wine." Yasmine announced, uncorking the bottle and handing it to Jennifer.

Jennifer smiled, "Thanks."

Ryan quickly snatched the bottle out of Jennifer's hand, "Ryan, what is wrong with you?"

"I could ask you the same question!" He got out of his seat, "We have to talk."

"Yeah, we do."

Ryan grabbed Jennifer's hand and pulled her out of her seat. They headed into the hallway bathroom.

"Ryan Matthew Connor, what the hell is going on with you?" Jennifer asked, after shutting the door and locking it. "You've been acting weird all day."

"I'm sorry. I'm just monitoring my extremely irresponsible wife."

"Irresponsible?" Now Jennifer had gone from annoyed to pissed. "How dare you!"

"No, how dare you! What type of pregnant woman goes around drinking alcohol?"

"Pregnant? What are you talking about?"

"I saw the test in our bathroom."

"Ryan, I'm not pregnant." Jennifer insisted, chuckling a bit at her husband's crazed behavior.

"Jennifer, give it up. I know you are, so-"

"The pregnancy test wasn't mine!" Jennifer cut in.

"Oh. It wasn't?"

"No."

"Then who did it belong to?" Jennifer whispered Gabriella's name into Ryan's ear. "Gabriella's pregnant!"

Jennifer clamped her hand over Ryan's mouth, "Geez, why don't you say that a bit louder. I don't think the people in France heard you!"

Ryan took Jennifer's hand off of his mouth, "So Gabriella's the pregnant one?"

Jennifer nodded, "Yes. But Troy doesn't know yet, so if you even think about slipping up and saying something, I will freaking rip your vocal cords out. Same goes if you ever touch my wine glass again."

"Graphic."

"It's the truth."

"Whatever you say." Ryan kissed Jennifer's forehead. "I'm just glad you aren't the pregnant one."

"No way." Jennifer opened the bathroom door and walked out, heading back to the dining room. "Sorry about that guys."

"Everything alright, honey?" Kathy asked, once her daughter sat back down.

"Yeah, mom, we just had to clear something up. There was a bit of miscommunication."

Kathy nodded, "Oh. Well I'm glad that's over."

Ryan let out a breath of relief, "You aren't the only one, Kathy."

* * *

"As much as I love going back to Texas, there is nothing better than being in my own home. I missed this place." Troy said, getting into his bed. "I missed you bed. I missed you comforter."

"Yeah, it feels nice being back home."

"You okay, Montez?" Troy asked.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've just been really quiet, which is so unlike you."

"Are you saying that I talk a lot? Should I be offended?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"I'm just really tired."

"Don't get too tired. We'll have to check you into rehab for "exhaustion"."

"And I guess I don't have much to say."

Troy grinned, "You want to hear a secret?"

"Yeah, I love secrets."

"Somebody we know is pregnant." Troy sing songed.

Gabriella's eyes widened and her pulse quickened, "What?"

"Yeah, yesterday Ryan found a positive pregnancy test in his bathroom, so Aaron is going to be an older sibling."

"J...Jen is the pregnant one?"

Troy nodded, "Ryan was freaking out on Marcus and I. But the weird thing is, Jennifer kept trying to drink. What was up with that, I have no idea."

"Maybe she's just so used to drinking, that it completely slipped her mind." Gabriella guessed, glad no one harped on the fact that she wasn't drinking.

"Maybe. Can you drink while you're pregnant?"

"Technically, you can do anything you want, but a doctor would advise you not to. It's not good for the baby."

"That's just dumb on Jennifer's part."

"I'll talk to her about it later."

"Good." Troy yawned. "I'm sleepy."

Gabriella ran her hand over Troy's eyes, "Close your eyes and go to bed, Bolton." She got out of the bed and headed to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Christian."

"You love that dog more than you love me!" Troy called out as Gabriella entered the hallway.

"I do."

* * *

"Okay, Gabriella, you have one more outfit change and then you are free to go." Julia told the woman, as the wardrobe coordinator was picking out the next outfit.

"Great. I can't wait to go home."

"How was Texas?" Julia asked.

"Texas was...interesting to say the least."

"What happened?"

_Oh, I just found out I was pregnant. _"Nothing new." Gabriella lied. "You've met Troy's family before. They're just crazy."

Julia looked at Gabriella, her eyes moving up and down, "Did you gain a bit of weight?"

"Why? Are you calling me fat?" Gabriella's hands flew to her stomach, feeling the skin. There was no way in hell that her stomach was noticeable yet.

"I am not calling you fat, drama queen. Relax."

"Good, because I'm not."

"You always put on a few pounds when you go to Texas, so I'm not really shocked. I feel like it is your mother-in-law's mission in life to make you gain at least 10 pounds."

"Yeah, they really want to fatten me out there."

"Don't worry. We'll get you back to the gym with your personal trainer, and you'll be back to your tiny little self in no time."

"Don't count on it." Gabriella muttered, playing with her hair.

"Did you say something?"

"No."

"So Elliot, his brother and EJ are going to take over the living room and watch basketball. You wanna go out for drinks? I'll pay. I was thinking-"

"No!" Gabriella exclaimed, looking at Julia as if she was crazy.

Julia raised an eyebrow, "No?"

"I'm just not up to it."

"Gabriella, how long have we known each other?"

"About 10 years."

"Right, and you don't turn down free drinks."

"Jules, I'm-"

"The only time you were not drinking is when you got your appendix taken out and when you were preg-" Julia gasped. "Gabriella Marie Bolton."

"Yes?"

Julia looked around, making sure no one else was around to here, "Are you pregnant?"

Gabriella sighed. She knew she was going to be able to keep it a secret from Julia, but this was ridiculous. They knew each other too well. "Yes, Julia, I am pregnant."

"Really?" Gabriella nodded. "When did you find out?"

"Three days ago when I was in Texas."

Julia squealed and pulled Gabriella into a hug, "This is exciting. Are you excited?"

"I don't know, I think I am. I'm really nervous. This hasn't really sunk in yet."

"Don't be nervous. This is supposed to be a joyful, fun time in your life."

"I know, but you know me. I can't help myself."

"How does Troy feel about being a dad?"

"I haven't told him yet. Only you and Troy's cousin, Jennifer know."

"Why doesn't he know yet?"

"I don't know, I just haven't told him."

"Well that's just stupid."

"Maybe I just want to go see my doctor and check everything out before I tell the world."

"He isn't the readers of People magazine. He's your husband."

Gabriella let out an exasperated sigh. "Jules-" Her phone beeped, cutting her off. Julia handed it to her. "Hello?"

"Gabriella, Ryan thought I was pregnant."

"Hi Jennifer." Gabriella greeted.

Jennifer sighed, "Hi Gabriella. Ryan thought I was pregnant."

"I know."

"You know? What do you mean?"

"Ryan told Troy that you were pregnant, and Troy told me last night."

"Who else thinks I'm pregnant?" Jennifer asked.

"Marcus."

"Oh no. This is a mess!"

Gabriella sat down in a chair, "Yeah."

"So you have to tell your husband that you're the pregnant one and not me."

"I'll tell him." Gabriella assured.

"Soon."

"Okay."

"Because I do not want to be the pregnant one in this situation."

"Jennifer..."

"Soon." Jennifer repeated.

"Okay, okay you win. I'll tell him soon."

"Great! Now, I gotta go. Aaron gets out of school early today. Love you, bye." She hung up.

"Love you too, Jen." Gabriella sighed and removed the phone from her ear.

* * *

"So Gabriella I can see you at noon tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"

Gabriella grabbed her mini day planner that was sitting in her purse to check the date. She flipped the book open and quickly scanned the pages. "Tomorrow at noon is fine for me, Dr. Anderson."

"Great! So I will see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Gabriella repeated. She hung up and sat her phone down beside her.

Gabriella already knew that she was pregnant, but in less than 24 hours, she'd be possibly seeing the baby or hearing a heartbeat. That made it all seem...real. It was absolutely nerve-wrecking and it made Gabriella nauseous.

Gabriella looked over and saw her puppy sitting on the edge of the bed. "Christian, I just became a mommy to you, and now I'm having a baby. A human baby!"

Christian walked over to Gabriella and curled up into her side. She gently put her hand on the puppy's back. "I'm really scared, you know? I don't know how to be a mom. My life isn't necessarily equipped for a baby. I can't cook, I drink a lot, babies make me extremely nervous. What if I screw the poor kid's life up? I haven't even thought about having kids in a long time. I gave up the idea of being a mother a long time ago. Reading all the stupid parenting books, and buying clothes and diapers and toys. The thought of changing my whole life around for another human being is terrifying. I did it before, and it failed and..." Gabriella's voice trailed off. She looked down. "I'm talking a lot right now, aren't I?"

"If you have to ask the dog if you're talking to much, you probably are." Troy answered, smiling as he walked into the bedroom.

"Hi." Gabriella greeted.

"So what was it that you were talking so much about?" Troy asked, taking off his shoes. "To your dog, I might add."

"I was talking about work." Gabriella lied. "You know I don't think or talk about anything else."

"That's true. How was your day?"

"I worked, and worked, and worked some more. What about you?"

"Same." Troy got on the bed and looked at Christian. "You're in my spot. Can I lay next to Gabriella?" The dog got up and hopped off of the bed. He scampered out of the room.

"You kicked my dog out."

"I didn't kick him out." Troy argued, putting his head down on Gabriella's lap. "I just asked if I could lay next to you. He chose to leave the room."

"You're just mad that you now have to share me."

"You know what? I am mad that I have to share my wife with a puppy. Aaron is enough."

Gabriella smirked, "I thought I already told you that Aaron wins."

"So I'm just being strung along?"

"Yeah."

"Well that sucks."

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand and intertwined their fingers. Maybe this would be a good time to tell Troy. But how do you break that type of news to someone?

"Troy?"

"Yes Brie?"

"How do you feel about kids?"

"Kids are great."

"No, I mean how do you feel about having kids?" Gabriella asked.

"Do you even want kids?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I've been thinking about these past few days and I want a baby. Do you?"

"Is this because Jennifer is pregnant?"

"What?" Gabriella shook her head. "Troy, this has nothing to do with Jennifer."

"Really?"

"Yes. This is about me and you. Do you want a baby?"

"Yeah, but not now."

"Why not, right now? What's wrong with right now?"

"We're newlyweds."

"We've been married for over a year."

"Yeah, but don't you think it's a little too soon?"

Gabriella scoffed, "Am I still talking to Troy Bolton? The guy who proposed to me in a car in the middle of southern California after about 8 _months_ of being together. Talk about too soon."

"Am I still talking to Gabriella Montez? The woman who has never talked about having kids all of sudden wants one."

"Yeah."

"We're both so busy. Don't you want to slow down before we have a baby."

"I've been busy since I was 18 years old, Troy. We're always going to be busy."

"Where is all of this coming from?"

Gabriella sighed, "I don't know. We've never talked about this. We have been together for almost 4 years, married for 1, and it's about time we talked. But I got my answer. You think it's too soon for a baby."

Troy squeezed Gabriella's hand, "Are you okay?"

"Just thinking."

Troy lifted his head up, and kissed Gabriella's forehead, "You want to go sit in the kitchen and eat a few cartons of ice cream?"

"I'll meet you down there. Save me some rocky road."

"I will."

Gabriella watched as Troy walked out of the bedroom. She groaned and put her head in her hands. This was a mess. One giant, huge fucked up mess.

"What the hell am I going to do?"


	4. Share the Good News

"You look like you're dying." Cristina said, looking at her daughter who was shuffling around in her purse. They were standing in Gabriella's driveway next to Cristina's car.

"Thanks mom, you really know how to make a girl feel better."

"I'm sorry, but you do. Are you sick?"

"No." Gabriella answered. In all honesty, she felt crappy. Her head hurt, her stomach was doing cartwheels, and all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep. But to say she felt like she got hit by a truck would be dramatic. It was more like a smart car.

"No? Oh goodness, Gabriella we need to get you some multivitamins and a glass of water."

Gabriella sighed, "I'm fine, mom. Really."

"If you say so." Cristina held up her car keys, "Ready to go to the doctor?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"I'm a little surprised that you wanted me to come to this appointment with you."

Gabriella got into the car, "Well, it's always good to have your mom around."

"Moms are great, aren't they?"

They started driving to the hospital. Gabriella put her sunglasses on and her head against the window. She listened to her mother talk about her life in San Diego. She occasionally replied, but she was silent for the most part.

"Is this a routine check up?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No. It's a little bit more than a check up."

"Why, what's going on? Should I be concerned?"

"No. There's nothing to be concerned about, mom."

Gabriella could hear her mother let out a sigh of relief. "That's always good to hear. I was a bit nervous for a second."

"Nervous?"

"Well, the idea of your child being sick is always nerve wracking. And you know I'm not the biggest fan of hospital visits."

"Yeah, I obviously get my anxiety and fear of hospitals from you."

"I do not have a fear of hospitals." Cristina argued. "I just have an intense dislike for them, but they don't scare me."

"Sure, mom."

"What, you don't believe me?"

"No."

"Well I'm not afraid. Trust me."

Cristina pulled into the hospital parking garage and pulled the key out of the ignition. Before she could unbuckle her seat belt and get out if the car, Gabriella grabbed her arm. "Wait. Before we go in there, I have to tell you something."

Cristina turned slightly, "What?"

"The appointment I'm going to is pretty serious."

"How serious?"

"I'm going to have an ultrasound." Cristina's eyes got huge. "Because I'm pregnant."

Cristina reached forward and tightly wrapped her arms around Gabriella, despite the seat belt digging into her skin. She was too excited to even notice, or care. "You're having a baby?

Gabriella nodded, "I'm having a baby."

"Oh my gosh! I'm going to be a...grandma." Cristina let out a deep sigh. "Gabriella, I'm going to be a grandma. I feel so old right now."

"You aren't old." Gabriella protested.

"Thank you sweetheart." Cristina cupped Gabriella's face and kissed her forehead. "Oh, my baby is having a baby."

"Mom..."

"This is so exciting! This is the best news!"

Gabriella smiled, "Yeah."

"You are excited, right?" Cristina questioned.

"Of course I am. Why would you ask me that?"

"Because you're smiling, but it hasn't reached your eyes. It seems a little forced. You're happy, right?"

"I'm happy. I want this baby more than anything."

"Then I do not understand the problem."

"Troy doesn't want kids. At least not right now."

"What?"

"I asked him about it last night, and he said right now we do not need a baby."

"But you want a baby?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to assume that this pregnancy was a shock to you."

"Of course. Kids have been off of my radar for the longest time. This is the last thing I ever would have expected to happen."

"I think you should just tell him. I'm sure once he finds out about the baby, he is going to fall in love with the idea of being a dad."

"What if he doesn't, mom? What if this is one of those make or break moments in our marriage?" Gabriella had to take a deep breath to calm herself down. The last thing she needed was to have an anxiety attack.

"I know that it would be so much easier if we were able to control every little aspect of our lives, but you guys are going to have a baby, whether you're prepared or not. So I suggest you just get prepared. Life as you know it is going to change completely."

"Oh my gosh."

"And I mean that in the best way possible. Being a mother is the greatest job in the entire world." Cristina tucked a piece of Gabriella's hair behind her ear. "I promise."

"You had me worried for a moment."

"Let's go see my grandchild!" She squealed. "Do you hear me? I'm having a grandchild! Your dad and I are going to be grandparents!"

* * *

"Gabriella your tapping is pretty annoying." Cristina pointed out, watching her daughter tap her foot against her chair.

"I'm sorry, mom. I'm just really nervous right now."

"Don't be sorry. Just stop tapping."

Gabriella nodded and started wringing her hands. She couldn't stay still. She needed to keep herself occupied.

"You've gone from one annoying habit to the next, hon."

"Sorry, sorry." Gabriella neatly folded her arms in her lap.

"How are you feeling?" Cristina asked. "Do you have morning sickness?"

"Yes, I threw up twice this morning."

"Really?"

"And it was at four in the morning. Troy didn't hear because he is the deepest sleeper I know. And the second time was right before you picked me up."

"Have you eaten anything? Are you able to keep anything down?"

"Barely. And I haven't eaten today."

"Well when your appointment is over, we're going to San Diego and I'm going to cook for you. What do you want?"

"Macaroni."

"Kraft?"

"No. I want it home made."

"So you want a dish of macaroni? That's all? I can cook steaks."

"Yes. I don't think my stomach can handle red meat right now."

"Well, it's your dinner. I'll make whatever you want, so macaroni it is."

"Great."

"But your dad's a man and he needs meat, so I'll have to make him a pot roast or something."

Gabriella's stomach churned at the mention of meat. "Bleh."

"Don't worry. This will pass and you'll want to eat everything that you see."

"Gluttony doesn't sound so fun either."

"It's pretty fun. I ate so much when I was pregnant with Lola." Cristina sighed. "Then I gained a lot of weight. My face got huge. And so did my feet. And my ass."

"Mom, the picture of pregnancy that you are painting is not pretty. I'm a model and the last thing I intend to do is stuff my face and gain a ton of weight."

"When you crave chicken nuggets at a random hour and Troy has to drive there and get you some, I will say "I told you so."."

"I will never crave chicken nuggets, mom." Gabriella argued. "Unless I get them from Chick-fil-A."

Cristina shook her head, "Don't be so sure."

The door opened and a woman around Cristina's age walked in, cutting Gabriella and Cristina's conversation off.

"Hi Dr. Anderson!" Gabriella greeted, directing her attention onto the woman in front of her.

"Gabriella, nice to see you." She turned to Cristina. "You have company today."

Cristina extended her hand for the doctor to shake. "Cristina Montez. I'm her mother."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Montez. It's always a good idea to have your mother with you for moral support "

"That's what I say." Cristina agreed.

Dr. Anderson sat down in a chair next to a few computers. "So Gabriella, you are pregnant, correct?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yes. I took a home pregnancy test a few days ago and I'm just here to confirm things."

"Okay." Dr. Anderson looked at Gabriella's chart. "Your blood pressure is a bit high."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It's not horrible, but its not great. It's higher than what I want it to be. I would say just relax."

Gabriella exhaled slowly, "I'm Gabriella. It's impossible for me to relax."

"We'll you're going to try. Now you are a pretty healthy person, despite your BP. You don't smoke. Do you drink?"

"I haven't drank since I found out I was pregnant."

"Good. You won't be drinking for a while."

Cristina smiled, "That's good. Your poor liver needs a break from the copious amount of vodka you consume."

"Everyone thinks that I can't function like a regular human being without alcohol. Julia was so shocked when I told her I wasn't drinking."

"Because you drink a lot."

"No I don't."

"Gabriella, are you taking any prescription pills?"

Gabriella shook her head, "Not at the moment. I used to take Xanax because I tend to work myself up and I have mild panic attacks at time, but I don't take it anymore. I take Advil if I'm not feeling well, but I don't take anything serious."

"Well, you can't take anymore Advil. If you are in pain, you should take Tylenol but only if you really need it."

"I'll make sure to get rid of all the Advil in my house.".

"Are there any medical conditions that run on your side of the family, or your husband's?"

"Well my husband has asthma. Is that hereditary?"

"Genetics can play a part in asthma, but that also has to do with environmental factors, and how the baby's lungs develop throughout the pregnancy. I wouldn't worry about anything right now."

"Okay."

"Do you want to see your baby?" Dr. Anderson questioned.

"We can see the baby?"

"Sure we can. You're still pretty early in this pregnancy, but we'll be able to see a little bit. Do you want to?"

"I do!" Cristina answered, excitedly.

"Mom, the question wasn't directed towards you."

"Sorry. I'm just excited right now, that's all."

Dr. Anderson smiled, "It's perfectly fine. I've seen a ton of zealous relatives in my day." She turned to Gabriella. "So do you want to?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so lie down." Dr. Anderson ordered. She shuffled around the room, grabbing all the equipment she needed. "And lift up your shirt."

Gabriella did what she was told. She looked at her mother who gave her a soft smile. She felt anxious and nervous and excited all at the same time.

Dr. Anderson squeezed gel onto Gabriella's stomach. "Ready?"

Gabriella sighed, "Ready as I'll ever be."

Dr. Anderson ran the transducer along Gabriella's stomach and stared at the monitor in front of her. Gabriella turned her attention to the monitor, too. It looked back, but there were little flickers all over the screen. She squinted a bit to see if anything would stand out.

Dr. Anderson pointed to a tiny dot in the middle of the screen, "You see that?" Gabriella nodded. "That's your baby."

"That's a tiny little thing."

"Yup. Given what you told me over the phone yesterday, I'd say you're about 8 weeks along and the baby is the size of a raspberry."

Gabriella stared at the screen, unable to keep her eyes off of it. It was absolutely mesmerizing to put it lightly. She and Troy were going to have a baby. It still felt weird and unbelievable to her. She suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to burst into tears.

"I can print you out a picture if you want."

Gabriella pulled her eyes away from the screen. She looked up at the doctor. "I'd love one."

* * *

The first thing Gabriella noticed when she stepped into her house was the smell. It smelled of garlic bread and pasta sauce. Any other day, her mouth would have been watering but now she felt like walking out of the townhouse before she threw up.

She heard footsteps and suddenly, Troy was in view of her. "Hey gorgeous."

"Hi." Gabriella greeted, setting her keys down on the table beside her. "You're cooking."

"Yeah, I thought I would cook today. I hope you're hungry."

"Actually no." Gabriella said. "I went to San Diego and my mom cooked for me."

"Cristina's sweet."

"But it smells good in here."

"Thank you."

The two walked into the living room and Gabriella sat down on the sofa. "Come sit down with me. I want to talk to you."

"Am I in trouble?"

"We just have to talk."

Troy took a few cautious steps towards the sofa. "I think I'm in trouble."

"You are not in trouble. Why? Are you doing something worthy of my anger?"

"No."

"Okay then." Troy sat down.

"What's up with you?"

Gabriella took a deep breath. She had to do this before she chickened out. "I had a doctor's appointment today."

Troy frowned, "Are you okay? What's wrong? Is it your headaches again?"

"I'm fine, save a bit of high blood pressure."

"What do your doctors want to do about that? Is there something you need to take?"

"I just need to relax, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"You have me worried, Montez." Troy played with a few strands of hair that were hanging in front of Gabriella's face.

"I'm pregnant." Gabriella said quickly. "We're having a baby."

Troy stared at Gabriella with wide eyes and shock evident on his face. It felt like he was frozen. Anything he wanted to say was stuck in his throat. His hard stare made Gabriella feel uncomfortable.

After a few moments of staring at Gabriella in complete and utter silence, Troy cleared his throat and shook his head. "We're going to have a baby."

"Yes. Jennifer isn't the pregnant one. I am."

"Why didn't you tell me? You let me ramble on and on about how my cousin was pregnant."

"I don't know, I was in shock. And I wanted to tell you, but you told me you didn't want kids."

"This is why we had that conversation yesterday?" Troy asked.

Gabriella stood up and started pacing. "Look, I know we didn't plan on having kids, but I want our baby. I want to be a mother. That is not going to change because you don't want a baby. And if this is what breaks us up, then fuck you. You don't just get to-" Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand and tugged at it.

"What?"

"I want you to calm down."

"I am calm." Gabriella protested.

"No you are not. I may not be a doctor but working yourself up into an attack isn't good for the baby."

"Fine."

"You want to count to three?"

"No." Gabriella said, stubbornly.

"Count to three."

Gabriella sighed heavily, "One...two...three. There, I counted."

"Was having a baby on my mind right now? No. That's not because I don't want kids with you. I just thought that we'd be married for a while longer, in our 30s, and we wouldn't be working as much. It's not like I'm going to divorce you or anything."

Gabriella felt a tear run down her nose. She sniffled and quickly wiped it away. "Okay."

"Why are you crying?"

"I don't know. It's my second time crying today."

"What were you crying for?" Troy asked, wiping Gabriella's face with the pad of his thumb.

"I went to the doctor's and I saw the baby."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I was crying over the sonogram picture."

"You got a picture?" Gabriella nodded. "Can I see it?"

"Of course." Gabriella walked away from Troy to grab her purse. She rummaged through it until her hand landed on the picture. She pulled it out and walked back to Troy. "Here you go."

Troy grabbed the picture and stared at it. "I'm gonna be a dad."

"Congratulations."

Troy pulled Gabriella closer to him and he put his hands around her. "We're going to have a great looking kid."

"We are, aren't we?"

Troy grabbed Gabriella's face and pulled her in for a kiss. "And you're gonna be the most amazing mother."

"Thank you."

"And I'm going to be a great dad."

Gabriella nodded, "Oh yeah. You're going to be the best dad."

"My mom is going to freak out."

"She is. And so is the rest of the Bolton clan."

"You're stuck with us for the rest of your live now, Montez."

"Just as long as you don't mind being stuck with me and my family."

"That sounds great, actually."

"Good."

"I love you."

"I would hope so."

"You have to say it back."

"No I don't." Troy gave Gabriella a glare. "I'm kidding. I love you too."

They slipped into a quiet silence. Gabriella sat down next to Troy. It seemed like she was finally able to relax and the load on her shoulders was finally gone.

"Are you sure this is real? You and I are going to be _parents_? To a _baby_?"

"Oh it's real all right."

"Holy shit, we are having a kid!"

"Are you going to do this all night?"

Troy nodded, "I think I am."


	5. Surprise!

"I don't understand what's on this plate right now, Troy." Gabriella said, looking at the plate in front of her.

"It's breakfast."

"This isn't what I usually eat for breakfast." Sitting on the plate was a piece of whole wheat toast, low fat Greek yogurt, and turkey bacon. "Did you go out and buy all of this?"

"Yeah, you're pregnant now. And you don't exactly have the best diet."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you don't have a great diet." Troy deadpanned.

"So?"

"So you should start eating healthier."

"Troy if your mother cooked the way she does now when she was pregnant, then your argument is invalid."

"It's not like you're eating anything bad."

"You can eat that stuff." Gabriella threw their duvet off of her and rolled out of bed. "I'm going to eat a stack of waffles drowned in maple syrup." She started walking out of their bedroom.

Troy got up and followed Gabriella down the stairs, "Brie..."

"If this is some subtle way of telling me that you don't want me to get fat during this pregnancy, I swear to God Bolton, I will-"

"The word fat never left my mouth."

"I feel like it was implied."

"Well it wasn't."

Gabriella started shuffling around the kitchen, grabbing everything she needed, "Then leave me alone. It's not like I'm going to eat a stick of butter every day."

"Okay." Troy sighed in defeat.

"Don't look so dejected, Bolton." Gabriella shrugged, "The baby might not even like all of the stuff I choose to eat, and I'll get sick. Then I'll have to eat better."

"Wishful thinking on my part."

"Yeah that is. No healthy food for me."

"Have you told your sister?"

"Nope."

"What?" Troy was a bit shocked. Gabriella and Lola were attached at the hip. "Don't you guys tell each other everything?"

"Yes, and I'm going to tell her. What about you? Does any of your side of the family know? Besides Jennifer?"

"No. We have to tell my parents, and our siblings. And the rest of our family."

"My agency. My publicist. Julia thinks she can still book me for shoots. Her exact words were, "Alessandra Ambrósio modeled before she started showing and you can too.". Who knows? She might even have me model for a maternity line as well."

"We have to tell the rest of the world."

"Them too. We can't forget about the people that follow our lives 24/7."

"Why don't we just let them find out once you start walking around town 7 months pregnant?" Troy suggested.

"You're right." Gabriella huffed in irritation. "This sounds exhausting. Thinking about all the stuff we have to do makes me want to sleep."

"Thinking makes you want to sleep, Montez."

"It sure does."

Their house phone rang on the kitchen counter. Troy looked to Gabriella, "You're closer."

"You're not pregnant. I'm not getting it."

Troy sighed and walked over to the counter. He grabbed the phone and answered, "Hello."

"Troy, it's me. Lola."

"Hey. What's up?"

"Nothing actually. I'm free. And I decided to call and check up on my sister. She didn't answer her cell so I decided to call your house phone."

"Her phone is probably in our bedroom. We're in the kitchen right now."

"Oh. Is she busy right now?"

Troy looked over to Gabriella, who was pouring batter into a waffle maker. She held out her hand. "She can talk." He handed Gabriella the phone.

Gabriella put the phone up to her ear, "Hi sis."

"Gabi, hey!"

"What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to talk to you. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"You saw me the day before I went to Texas." Gabriella pointed out.

"And how long ago was that?"

"About a week."

"Way too long."

Gabriella smiled, "Well you are in luck. I was going to call you and ask if you wanted to hang out."

"Of course. When and where?"

"In a few hours. You can pick the place."

"Okay."

"I want Marcus to come too. And Troy."

"Are we doing a double date type of thing?"

"I guess. And you and Marcus dating?"

"Ugh, gross. He's technically my brother-in-law. And he's Marcus."

"Then it's not a double date. It's a married couple-slash-sibling day."

"Sounds fun."

"I will call Marcus and tell him."

"Call and tell me what?"

Gabriella turned around and saw Marcus walking towards her. "Hi Marcus."

"Hey Gabs." He gave her a quick kiss on the head. "Ooh, are you making waffles?"

"Yes."

"I want some."

Troy scratched his head in confusion, "Marcus how did you get in here?"

Marcus picked up the small dog that had walked over to him, "I used my key."

"Your emergency key." Troy said. "Emphasis on the word _emergency_."

"Whatever."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and directed her attention back to her phone call, "I'll see you later, Lo."

"Bye!" Lola hung up.

Gabriella put the phone down, "Marcus do you have plans for the day?"

"No." Marcus answered.

"Good. We're going out to lunch in a few hours."

"Where?"

"I don't know. Lola's picking."

Marcus scrunched up his nose, "Knowing her, she's going to pick some gross, health food and we're all going to have to suffer."

Gabriella took the waffles out of the maker and put them on a plate, "Let's hope she can pick something we can all enjoy."

* * *

Gabriella sighed in relief as she sat in the booth next to Troy in the small Italian restaurant that they were currently in. For the first time in about a week, she was able to smell food and not want to throw up.

"Let's all start off with a glass of wine." Lola suggested, handing her menu to the waitress. She looked at the other people sitting around her for confirmation.

"None for me." Gabriella said. "I'll have a glass of water."

Lola looked at her sister in surprise, "What?"

"I'm not going to drink." Gabriella said.

"Since when?"

"Since I'm trying to cut back on my alcohol. Doctor's orders." That wasn't technically a lie. Her OB doesn't want her drinking.

"Okay. Anyone else?"

Troy opened his mouth, "Yeah, I'll have a gla-" He was cut off by Gabriella's sharp nails digging into his thigh. If she couldn't drink, he wasn't allowed to either. "Never mind. I'm not really in a drinking mood. I'll just have iced tea."

The waitress nodded, "I'll be back with your orders shortly." She walked away.

"So how have you guys been?" Lola asked, crossing her arms on the table.

"We've been greatly." Gabriella replied.

"That's good to hear."

"We actually have some good news for you two."

"Ooh, I love good news."

"What is it?" Lola questioned, leaning forward.

"I'm pregnant!" Gabriella announced.

There was a silence at the table. Gabriella anxiously looked at Lola and Marcus, trying to read their faces. That was an impossible task.

Lola burst into a fit of giggles. Then those giggles turned into big belly laughs. "No you're not."

"Excuse me?"

"You aren't pregnant."

Gabriella stared at her sister. Who was she to tell her what was going on in her uterus? "Yes I am. I took a home pregnancy test. I went to see my doctor. I'm 100% sure that I'm pregnant with now."

Lola stopped laughing, "Oh my God! Gabriella Marie Montez, you're pregnant?"

"Yes!"

"How?"

Marcus chuckled, "I see we're going to have to have the talk."

"Marcus, I'm an adult. I've know how babies are made. Gabriella, I thought you didn't want kids."

"I know what I said. Trust me. But I'm done with that part of my life."

Lola squealed excitedly, "This is so great! How long have you known?"

"Since I was in Texas."

"Texas?"

"Yeah. I took the test out there with Jennifer."

"Hold on, Gabriella." Marcus said. "That was your test I was touching at Jennifer's house?"

"I guess so."

"I touched something that you peed on."

"Marcus, why were you touching it in the first place?" Gabriella asked.

"I didn't know what it was at first. Ryan was going on like a crazy man and so I grabbed the test out of his hand, then I saw what it was, then I flung it out of my hand and washed my hands with extremely hot water and copious amounts of soap." Marcus explained.

"So how many people knew before I did?" Lola questioned.

"First it was Jennifer, then my doctor, mom, Troy, and now you."

"So I am the fifth person to find out?"

"Lola..."

"Unacceptable! I should have been the first person."

"No, Lola that should've been me." Troy said, pointing to himself.

"Shut it, Troy!"

"Lola, I can't believe you're doing this right now. It's so selfish."

"Yeah, Lola." Marcus agreed. Lola sent a harsh glare his way. "I'll be quiet."

"Good boy."

The waitress came back to their table and set the drinks down. She smiled and walked away.

Lola grabbed her wine glass, "I propose a toast."

Gabriella shook her head, "Lola that's not necessary."

"To Troy and Gabriella." Lola continued, ignoring her sister. "You guys are going to be amazing parents."

"Thank you."

"I better be your child's God mother."

"Oh of course."

"And I also better be in the delivery room with you or I will raise hell."

"It'll depend on the circumstances. We'll see."

"Gabriella, do you know what this means?" Lola asked.

"No."

"You have to learn how to cook. Your baby can't survive on takeout."

Gabriella gasped, "Oh you're right! I do need to learn."

"Now my aunt Chelsea won't look at you like you're crazy anymore."

Marcus did have a point. Gabriella wouldn't have to deal with the older woman making not so subtle digs at her cooking skills, or lack of. "Cheers to that."

* * *

"Are you sleeping a lot?"

"Trust me when I say, I'm sleeping plenty. And when we get off the phone, I'm probably going to go take a"

"And you've been taking your vitamins right?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes at her mother's interrogation. She sighed into the phone, "Yes."

"Are you eating well?"

"Describe well."

"Are you eating healthier?"

Gabriella eyed the cupcake in front of her. She picked it up. "I'm trying to."

"Try harder. I don't want my grandchild to come out addicted to red velvet cake, pizza, and sweet potato fries."

Gabriella took a bite into the cupcake, "My baby isn't going to be addicted to anything."

"Are you eating right now?"

"No." Gabriella lied.

"You know I know you too well for you to lie to me. What are you eating?"

"Mashed potatoes."

"Okay." Cristina said, skeptically. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm in the middle of cooking."

"All right. Bye. I love you."

"I love you more, darling. Bye."

Gabriella hung up and put her phone in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She slid off of the barstool she was sitting on and walked up the stairs.

She heard talking from her bedroom and she peered inside. Troy was in front of his laptop, talking.

"What are you doing?" Gabriella asked, walking into her room. She walked over to her bed and looked at the computer screen. Tory's parents were on the screen.

"There's my lovely daughter-in-law!" Lucille said. "I thought Troy was hiding you."

Gabriella sat down next to Troy, "I was on the phone with my mother."

"Oh. Troy was telling his father and I that you had something to tell us."

"Did he?"

Troy nodded, "I did."

"Should you tell them?"

"I think you should."

"But I told the last time."

Lucille huffed impatiently, "You guys know I can't handle suspense.

Troy turned to Gabriella, "Together?"

"Yeah that's fine."

"Spit it out already."

"We're having a baby!" The couple exclaimed.

Lucille let out a high, excited scream. "Are you serious?"

"We're serious!"

"I'm going to be a grandma?"

"Yes mom."

Lucille slapped Jack's arm, "Do you hear this, Jack? They're having a baby!"

Jack smiled, "Congratulations."

"Oh if I were in California, I would give you two the biggest hugs on the face of this planet." Lucille fanned her face. "I'm going to cry."

Gabriella frowned, "Lucy don't cry. If you start crying, I'll start crying as well and I probably won't be able to stop."

"Oh God, Gabriella please don't start crying."

"I can't help it. I'm emotional right now."

"Troy leave your wife alone!" Lucille ordered, sternly. "Carrying a baby isn't an easy task."

"Yeah Troy, leave me alone."

"How far along are you?"

"8 weeks." Gabriella answered.

"We have so much to do, in such a short amount of time. These next 7 months are going to go by so fast." Lucille said. "Gabriella we have to decorate a nursery, we have to baby proof your house, lock up all that alcohol you have sitting on that bar of yours. You guys have to take parenting classes."

"Slow down mom." Troy took a deep breath. "This is pretty overwhelming."

"I'm just really excited. Are you guys excited?"

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other. "Excited is one way to put it."

"One way? How else are you guys feeling?"

"Nervous."

"Anxious."

"Overwhelmed."

"A bit stressed."

"Stressed is good."

"Freaked out."

"Nauseous."

"But we are very, very excited."

"Yes we are."

"I can't wait to meet my grandchild." Lucille gushed. "I can't wait to spoil him or her rotten."

Troy chuckled, "Of course."

* * *

"Gabriella, it is 11:38 at night."

"I know what time it is, hon. I can read."

"And the light is still on." Troy complained, grabbing his pillow and putting it over his face.

"Troy, I'm reading."

Troy sat up in bed, "What are you reading?"

"I'm on this website and it tells you what is going on with the baby week-by-week." Gabriella explained. "Did you know that our baby is growing about one millimeter every day?"

"No I didn't know. That's not exactly common knowledge, Brie."

"And the baby has webbed toes and fingers."

"That's interesting. Like a little frog."

"Don't call our baby a frog. That's mean."

"I didn't call the baby a frog. It just has webbed feet like one."

"Shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

Gabriella shut the laptop, "Okay, I'm done. You can go to bed now."

"You aren't going to bed?"

"I'm not tired. I took a long nap earlier."

"That means you're going to be up bugging me."

"I won't bug you." Gabriella turned off the lamp on her nightstand. "I promise."

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night."

A few minutes went by. Gabriella turned over and looked at Troy. She could tell he was drifting off to sleep. She slapped his chest.

"Ow!" Troy up in bed. "What the hell was that?"

"I want you to talk to me."

"You promised not to bug me."

"Is talking to me such an inconvenience to you?"

"When it's almost midnight, yeah it is an inconvenience." Troy groaned, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"A boy." Troy replied, yawning, "What about you?"

"A boy. I don't think I can handle a little me. I was kind of a mess when I was teenager and-"

"Karma might kick you in the ass by giving you a stubborn, wild child?"

"Yes."

Troy put his head on Gabriella's shoulder. "That would be funny, but not too funny because I don't want a stubborn, wild child daughter either."

"Do you want to find out the sex of the baby? Or do you want to be surprised? If we knew, we could decorate the nursery, we could have a name picked out, and baby shower gifts would be easier to buy. But on the other hand, waiting sounds a bit fun. And it would drive our parents crazy. What do you think Troy?" No response. "Troy?"

Gabriella looked down and saw Troy softly snoring in his sleep. She kissed his forehead and quietly slipped out of bed.

She was going to find Christian. She would always count on her dog to listen to her ramble.


End file.
